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Lydia Maria Child, Letters of Lydia Maria Child (ed. John Greenleaf Whittier, Wendell Phillips, Harriet Winslow Sewall), Introduction. (search)
echism once a month. Her education was limited to the public schools, with the exception of one year at a private seminary in her native town. From a note by her brother, Dr. Francis, we learn that when twelve years of age she went to Norridgewock, Maine, where her married sister resided. At Dr. Brown's, in Skowhegan, she first read Waverley. She was greatly excited, and exclaimed, as she laid down the book, Why cannot I write a novel? She remained in Norridgewock and vicinity for severNorridgewock and vicinity for several years, and on her return to Massachusetts took up her abode with her brother at Watertown. He encouraged her literary tastes, and it was in his study that she commenced her first story, Hobomok, which she published in the twenty-first year of her age. The success it met with induced her to give to the public, soon after, The rebels: a Tale of the Revolution, which was at once received into popular favor, and ran rapidly through several editions. Then followed in close succession The mother
Lydia Maria Child, Letters of Lydia Maria Child (ed. John Greenleaf Whittier, Wendell Phillips, Harriet Winslow Sewall), To Rev. Convers Francis. (search)
To Rev. Convers Francis. Norridgewock [Maine], June 5, 1817. My dear brother,-- This letter, the earliest received by the compilers, was written when Miss Francis was fifteen years old. I have been busily engaged in reading Paradise lost. Homer hurried me along with rapid impetuosity; every passion that he portrayed I felt: I loved, hated, and resented, just as he inspired me! But when I read Milton, I felt elevated above this visible diurnal sphere. I could not but admire such astonishing grandeur of description, such heavenly sublimity of style. I never read a poem that displayed a more prolific fancy, or a more vigorous genius. But don't you think that Milton asserts the superiority of his own sex in rather too lordly a manner? Thus, when Eve is conversing with Adam, she is made to say,-- My author and disposer, what thou bid'st Unargu'd I obey; so God ordained. God is thy law, thou mine: to know no more Is woman's happiest knowledge, and her praise. Perhaps y
Lydia Maria Child, Letters of Lydia Maria Child (ed. John Greenleaf Whittier, Wendell Phillips, Harriet Winslow Sewall), To the same. (search)
To the same. Norridgewock, September, 1817. I perceive that I never shall convert you to my opinions concerning Milton's treatment to our sex. Whether the ideas I have formed of that author be erroneous or not, they, are entirely my own. I knew Johnson as a violent opponent to Milton, both in political and religious concerns; but I had never seen, or heard, of any of his remarks upon his poetical productions. Much as I admire Milton, I must confess that Homer is a much greater favorite with me. Paradise lost is unquestionably the sublimest effort of human genius. It fixes us in a state of astonishment and wonder ; but it is not characterized by that impetuosity and animation which, I think, gives to poetry its greatest charm.
Lydia Maria Child, Letters of Lydia Maria Child (ed. John Greenleaf Whittier, Wendell Phillips, Harriet Winslow Sewall), To the same. (search)
To the same. Norridgewock, November 21, 1819. I have long indulged the hope of reading Virgil in his own tongue. I have not yet relinquished it. I look forward to a certain time when I expect that hope, with many others, will be realized. .. I usually spend an hour, after I retire for the night, in reading Gibbon's Roman Empire. The pomp of his style at first displeased me ; but I think him an admirable historian. There is a degree of dignified elegance about this work which I think well suited to the subject.
Lydia Maria Child, Letters of Lydia Maria Child (ed. John Greenleaf Whittier, Wendell Phillips, Harriet Winslow Sewall), To the same. (search)
To the same. Norridgewock, December 26, 1819. I am aware that I have been too indolent in examining the systems of great writers; that I have not enough cultivated habits of thought and reflection upon any subject. The consequence is, my imagination has ripened before my judgment; I have quickness of perception, without profoundness of thought; I can at one glance take in a subject as displayed by another, but I am incapable of investigation. What time I have found since I wrote you last has been pretty much employed in reading Gibbon. I have likewise been reading Shakespeare. I had before taken detached views of the works of this great .master of human nature; but had never before read him. What a vigorous grasp of intellect; what a glow of imagination he must have possessed; but when his fancy droops a little, how apt he is to make low attempts at wit, and introduce a forced play upon words. Had he been an American, the reviewers, in spite of his genius, would have damned h
Lydia Maria Child, Letters of Lydia Maria Child (ed. John Greenleaf Whittier, Wendell Phillips, Harriet Winslow Sewall), To the same. (search)
To the same. Winslow [Maine], March 12, 1820. I can't talk about books, nor anything else, until 1 tell you the good news; that I leave Norridgewock, and take a school in Gardiner, as soon as the travelling is tolerable. When I go to Gardiner, remember to write often, for 't is woman alone who truly feels what it is to be a stranger. Did you know that last month I entered my nineteenth year? I hope, my dear brother, that you feel as happy as I do. Not that I have formed any high-flown expectations. All I expect is, that, if I am industrious and prudent I shall be independent. I love to feel like Malcolm Graeme when he says to Allan Bane, Tell Roderick Dhu I owe him naught. Have you seen Ivanhoe ? The Shakespeare of novelists has struck out a new path for his versatile and daring genius, I understand. Does he walk with such elastic and lofty tread as when upon his own mountain heath? Have his wings expanded since he left the hills of Cheviot? Or was the torch of fancy